Emergency repairs to the Central Motorway will resume on Sunday after a lorry careered through the central reservation.

A lorry toppled over and crashed through the central reservation between the Great North Road and Cow Hill junctions at around 2am on Thursday.

The vehicle was carrying pallets, which were littered across the carriageway, and diesel spilled across all four lanes of the road as the closure caused rush-hour chaos for motorists heading into Newcastle.

Newcastle City Council closed lane two, the lane closest to the central reservation, of both carriageways on Thursday afternoon and evening so urgent repairs can take place.

Despite the work not being completed, council bosses decided the postpone the repairs for the Friday morning and evening rush-hour to avoid disruption for commuters.

Peter Gray, head of highways and local services at Newcastle City Council, said : “Extra resources were put in place for our road maintenance team to work through the night to make safe the area of the central reservation that was effected by the recent accident involving an overturned lorry.

“A decision was made at 5am to reopen the two closed lanes to ensure road users could get to work and about their morning journeys with minimal disruption and to keep traffic flowing.

“The final part of the central reservation repairs will be made this coming Sunday during off peak times and is likely to take a few hours from morning into afternoon.

“This will mean the same lane closures will be put in place, where both lanes either side of the central reservation will be closed.”

The driver of the lorry was taken to hospital as a precaution but police said his injuries are not thought to be serious.

There was rush-hour chaos on Thursday morning as surrounding routes became congested including Grandstand Road, the Great North Road and tailbacks through Cowgate but the road re-opened at 8am.